Palestine Solidarity Legal Support advised the ASA National Council that the legal threats are baseless. The academic boycott, like other boycotts for human rights, is not illegal under any federal or state law, but is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Such frivolous legal threats are a primary tactic in the repression of Palestinian human rights activism, which PSLS formed in response to.

The opposition's reliance on legal bullying is predictable. Alan Dershowitz, in an open letter threatening ASA members said "a vote for a boycott will expose you and your association both for legal and academic consequences."

By and large, Zionists have refused to debate and have ceded that ground to their opponents. Instead, they rely increasingly on other means, predominantly legal and institutional harassment, to close down debate, force student senates to rescind democratically approved divestment resolutions, or punish students and academics for criticizing Israel.

There is no doubt that Zionist organizations have great power and the material resources to enable them to engage in a forceful assault on the American Studies Association.

But in the intellectual world, the resort to force is not a position of strength. Saturday evening at the ASA showed the power of reasoned, moral argument. And there is no going back from that. In the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people, a turning point has been achieved.